Ducati Marlboro’s Casey Stoner continued his mastery of Phillip Island by running away with his fourth win in a row in front of a chilled crowd of over 41,000 of his fellow countrymen.
Starting from the pole position, the Australian, who’d celebrated his 25th birthday a day earlier, jetted into the lead, never to be headed and never to be challenged.
Stoner built up his lead at will and the only question mark was the size of the margin of victory. After 27 laps of the 2.76 circuit above the Bass Strait, Stoner won by 8.598 secs.
So great is his mastery of Phillip Island, that in these four victories, he’s led every lap but one, the first lap of last year’s win.
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“We’re very happy with this weekend,” Stoner said. “I was a little bit disappointed after the last race in Malaysia. We felt that we definitely had the pace to fight for a win there and we mucked it up on the first lap. So that was a bit disappointing. But these last four races have been fantastic for us to be so competitive again. It’s been a hard season for us always having to settle for the last step of the podium. And normally it’s an extreme fight for that and Valentino (Rossi) wasn’t there for most of it. So it’s been very nice for us to be able to come back to form and actually give these guys a run for their money in these last races, it’s been fantastic.
“So to win here after such a great weekend, started off so well and just progressed after that. So it’s very nice. We had a fair bit of pressure on for this one. After winning two in a row and then going for a third, no one seemed to really mind that we were trying to win my third one straight. But fourth one straight, everyone kind of expected it his weekend. So we definitely had a little bit of pressure from the public, but I’m glad we managed to get that win.” Cycle News
The Australian left newly-crowned MotoGP world champion Jorge Lorenzo trailing in his wake, storming 1.5 seconds clear after the opening lap. He eventually finished 8.598secs ahead of Lorenzo, with Valentino Rossi snatching third on the last lap with a bold overtaking manoeuvre on Nicky Hayden.
Lorenzo admitted he quickly resigned himself to second place, he said: “It’s really difficult to beat him here.
“I tried my best but when I saw him go away a bit I thought it was better today to finish second.” The Press Association
Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider Ben Spies achieved his eighth top-five finish of his maiden MotoGP campaign and with it secured Rookie of the Year, with fellow premier class debutant Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini) just under three seconds further back in sixth position.
There were top-ten finishes also for Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), Aleix Espargaró (Pramac Racing), Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini) and Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda). Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) was the only rider who failed to finish the race after he experienced technical problems early on. Motogp.com
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